Do anxiety medications work?

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That mirrors my experience with Paroxetine*, although i did experience incresaed hypomania & self-destructive urges.
I tried Sertraline* this year and had a very strong reaction, similar to the physical effects of LSD.

*Im using the 'trade' chemical names for the benefit of international readers eg. me.

Im supposed to start taking mirtazepine, but ive had enough. Cannabis (indica) is, IME a great deal more safe and healthy if used corectly (appropriate strains/dosages). Treated respectfully, it can help apply long term therapy solutions, rather than simple sticking-plaster relief & it wont poison your vital organs either.

This is in response to the last two posts.

I've been on various antidepressants for 9 years and antianxiety meds for 5 years, and my doctor and I are STILL trying to find the right combination. It's very frustrating.

Coded you should stop taking the Lexapro because of the seriousness of the side effects - call you doc to report them. I couldn't take Lexapro because it gave me such bad abdominal pain I thought I had appendicitis. I couldn't take Effexor because it made me so constipated I ended up with debilitating hemorrhoids AND I'd wake up every night from 2-5 times, and have horrible nightmares. Right now I'm on Prozac and it's making me too stimulated and my depression isn't much better.

I've been on clonazepam for years (it's a benzodiazepene like valium) for anxiety. Used to just take it at night to counteract my chronic insomnia/downward spiral of bad thoughts at midnight, but over the last 6 months my anxiety has worsened and my doc has me taking it more often. It works beautifully on the anxiety, but then I lose motivation to do anything for several hours, which isn't good if one needs to make a living.

I've been wondering if aspies are more complicated to treat for depression and anxiety, and I have to write a scholarly paper for a grad school application, and this is the subject I'm going to write on. I'd love to get some anecdotal accounts from people with AS, with your permission, and I will publish my final paper on this site.

Yes, antianxiety meds can work well depending on the person. But other methods like behavioral therapy can help alongside with medications, so that the medications aren't just a band aid approach and one isn't dependent on them to relieve anxiety.

Changing one's environment to be less anxiety-provoking as well as avoiding anxiety-provoking situations can help, too.

But a medications only approach for constant anxiety is more of a band aid. But sometimes there isn't much of a choice.

For those more into natural remedies or aids, Magnesium has antidepressant and antianxiety effects. But one needs to be careful to take the appropriate doses since Magnesium can be toxic at certain levels.

And a good balanced diet can aid in overall health as well, including mental.

I read an interesting anxiety/panic thread on another forum. Someone said, in her case she'd identified the cause of the attacks. She was living with her boyfriends house, and the nature of their relationship had gradually transformed from a vibrant, outgoing type to feeling stifled, repressed & withdrawn (or something like that). As soon as she broke up with him & left, she recovered completely.

Yes, it can be very helpful to identify what is the main cause of anxiety and try, if possible, to remove it/avoid it.

I took Lexapro for six weeks and went off. It wasn't really working at all the way it was supposed to. The first few weeks were ok, then I went manic and a little nuts. My doctor said, "huh, well, that's happened a few times with AS patients of mine". She seemed to think that the drugs, all psychoactive drugs, probably work a little differently for AS & Autism b/c our brains are different. Look at the variation of effects in the regular population...

If you're ok on them and nothing is unbearable keep taking it for a little while though. For me the headaches and other aching I first got as side effects went away after about 2 weeks I think. It didn't make me depressed, like I said it made me manic, but before *that* happened I was pretty "normal" in mood. That is, I felt better, but still down... I told some friends "well, now I feel happily depressed" and that was pretty accurate... I stopped after I got manic. We're trying a different approach than the SSRI's now.

So yeah, keep it up if you can to see what happens, and if it doesn't work, try something else. Doesn't sound to good I know but all these drugs are different so one may eventually do the trick. Be careful though, I think the Lexapro is linked to suicide ideation too. In general a lot of people like it, but if you're wired differently it may not work. Anyway, good luck with it...

Ive been close to 3 people on various SxRI's (not including myself) and ALL of them had suicidal ideation. Maybe 1 or 2 would be prone anyway, but even so...

The LSD type experience on Sertraline screamed to me 'this is wrong, people werent meant to take this'
It was only like LSx/tryptamines in some respects (there is no other way i could possibly describe it) There was no beauty, no sense of mystical awakening or accelerated cognitive function, just a 'misplaced' artificial sensation, with marked physical effects (trembling, shin/foot numbness, teeth chattering) Several months later, my feet still feel numb, although that could easily be something else.

I think the episode was, or similar to the dreaded 'serotonin syndrome' which does occasionally affect people after taking a single prescribed dose (although that one dose alone is unlikely to kill)

I dont think i will ever take that family of drugs again. Having experienced the effects intensely, i would not be happy with that chemical in my system, even if i had a typical, milder response. If a life-or-death situation ever arises, then sure. But now im more determined to do all the basics first - exercise, nutrition, self-therapy, healing herbs (in that order). Artificial chemicals should always be a last resort imo.

3 people is not nearly a large enough sample size to make any kind of determination. I've been on various SSRI's for 9 years and have NEVER experienced SI.



You may have experienced an adverse reaction, something which happens occasionally. It happened to me after one dose of remeron. When that happens, you know not to take that drug anymore.



That's not entirely accurate. Serotonin syndrome is caused by an excess of serotonin, and it usually is the result of two medications interacting, such as an SSRI AND a MAOI.



"Artificial chemicals" have saved more lives than not. I would not be here today without them. Your psychiatrist should assist you in deciding what your therapy should be. And always tell your doctor what herbs you're taking because they can interact with presribed medications.

Its probably extremely rare, but there are reports of it having happenned. Given a large enough sample size - somewhere, sometime it will happen again.

Serotonin syndrome is differentiated from a strong initial reaction by the intensity, duration and clustering of the effects, which fit a similar profile.

how about just AVOIDING places where anxiety happens? all together. like not take the bus. dont go to the mall. dont stay at home alone at night. kinda stupid idea i know. i have never tried any meds at all, and i dont think they wud work. im better now than a few months ago, but i have no idea why. (better from anxiety)

I used to work as a nurse in mental hospitals, and ive met older patients whove been 'poisoned by psychiatry' over the years. I dont trust doctors. In thier defense, i will say that there is a shortage of state therapists, so waiting times for talking therapy are long.

Many, perhaps even most AS people who unknowingly meltdown and seek help are misdiagnosed and given innapropriate treatment because psychiatrists are generally ignorant of ASD issues and dont know what else to do.

Regarding herbs (by which i mean cannabis) i operate an open-book policy with all specialists except psychiatrists. The reason being they are completely ignorant of the subltle complexities of how and why it affects the people they see in different ways. They never read studies showing therapeutic benefit in mental health problems, because they dont get funded and/or referenced in the medical journals.

The whole psychiatric industry appears, imo to be overly influenced on all levels by the financial interests of the pharmaceutical giants. Whilst their inventions do save some people, such as yourself, they have also willfully hurt people in the past, so need to be viewed with suspision - im thinking inparticular of the Paroxetine (paxil,seroxat) scandal, where research indicating adverse effects in children (including self harm & suicidal ideation iirc) was deliberately obscured so they were able to renew a £multi-million license.

I just read somewhere that autistics have increased amounts of seratonin in their brains. So any drug that also increases this level couldn't it cause this syndrome?

I have taken several different meds. First they tried sertraline, OMG that was funny, I walked around with this clown face for a week. When the first effects of hypomania wore off, it made me restless and uneasy feeling. I really don't think it affected my anxiety.
Then for some stupid reason and because I was having headaches they added nortryptaline to the mix. OK bad combination for me anyways. I was on mars for about three months. (no joke) It actually heightened my autistic tendencies.
Lost my visual memory, had no clue. Stopped the sertraline and stayed on the nortryptaline but I really didn't feel lilke myself. Now one should know that I have been on Tenormin since 1990 for a pre-existant heart valve problem. In my research Tenormin can be used, but the only lasting effect tenormin has had is being tired throught the day and lack of motivation and sex drive.
I have also tried Peroxatine, and fluoxetine. I really had no luck with that one either (Prozac) we kept increasing and it really didn't help with the anxiety. Which for years I have labeled as stress. <---but looking back to my meltdowns they were anxiety I guess. I never knew that meltdowns from AS were mostly anxiety based until recently.

I have to agree with the post that exersize helps out a great deal. Most of the time I don't feel like doing it but recently have taken up walking and that is helping out.

Oh now I am only on the Tenormin.

Obviously we come from completely different paradigms. Your assumptions stagger me, and I find it disheartening that you come from a place where you refuse to see the benefits. I could continue to disagree with every single statement you 've made, based on my years of professional experience in the field, bgut it's just not worth the continuing bad feelings for me. Just please keep your opinions, NOT facts, to yourself, so you dont negatively affect those who really do need therapy. You are an example of a little information can be a dangerous thing. I hate misinformation. Get your facts straight before posting on a public board where others could be easily influenced. Saving lives with medication is a very serious subject, not one you should be messing around with.

I'm sorry to be so blunt, but I'm a psych nurse who's also personally in the system, and it scares me to think you've turned anybody away from the help that could save their lives. I'd hate to see anybody not seek help because of your unsubstantiated and erroneous"beliefs"

I'm not standing up for medications in any way, but what ages were the people and how high of dosages were they on?

I'm big on only using medications in moderation as well as only adults using them at their typical levels. Psychiatrists are very med happy it seems these days and willing to dole out just about anything and as much as possible.



I very much agree. Medications and their producation have now become a business to which maximum monetary profit is the current goal.

mid 20s - Venlafaxine - ?ASD?, dosage unknown - taken irregularly, with various street drugs
late 20s - Sertraline, dosage unknown
mid 20s - Fluoxetine, i assume a starting dose as it hapenned in the early stages. This was immediate family & the change was sudden and totally out of charater.
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mid 20s - me - Paroxetine - dosage 20->60mg - Ididnt experience suicidal ideation, but did have frequent hypomania, self-harming and erratic behaviour.

Lets look at the post you quoted;

paragraphs 1 & 2 - i perhaps should have qualified this with an 'in the UK' prefix. Psychiatric services differ from place to place. In Germany, ECT is considered by many to be barbaric, whereas straight-jackets are still used. Vice versa in the UK. (incidentally, a bipolar lady who'd been sectioned in both coutries said she preferred it in Germany, because whilst restrained, she had a chance to calm down slowly and think things through, which isnt possible in the UK where she recieves heavy sedation)

I HAVE met people who've been poisoned by psychiatry - its dismissed as 'oh, just dementia' in some quarters but really its neuromalignant syndrome, ECT damage and such like.

AS people often ARE misdiagnosed and given innapropriate treatment, at least here - maybe things are different where you live/work. Thats alone is good enough reason for me not to trust doctors implicitly - AS has been recognised since the 40s iirc, its ridiculous they havent caught up. Obviously, that factor is less relevant on aspie forums as we have gained self-awareness of our condition and presumably communicate this to our doctors.

Some aspects of the system, certain decisions made by doctors disturb me. Vulnerable, people would have looked to me for reassurance as a familiar, friendly face. In my passive way, i would have been seen as supportive of things (particularly ECT) and these memories sometimes sicken me with guilt.

Paragraph 3 - a (hurriedly written) look at psychiatric attitudes to cannabis therapy. I notice you clipped it, so perhaps you mistakenly assumed it to be a general diatribe on psychiatry?

Paragraph 4 - Why did you clip the Paroxetine scandal? Are you familiar with the case? - were talking about suicidal ideation, and heres a major pharmaceutical firm orchestrating a cover-up of the relevant research - there is a dark side to this industry, and in the interests of balance this needs exposure.

My experiences are every bit as valid as yours, unless you want to keep it one-sided - i think a balanced contrasts of views, contrasts and paradigns is preferable. I have simply related some of my experiences, and clearly said that medicines ARE useful to some people in a crisis, but otherwise the basics (exercise,nutrition,therapy) should IMO be looked at first. Surely only a drug-rep could disagree with that!